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Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Why Next Generation Leaders?

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The world has changed
dramatically over the last century. Changes in agriculture, industry, medicine
and education have made the world more productive, healthier and habitable in
many ways. But the world has also changed fundamentally over the last decade.
Education has revised the way children are education while information
technology has changed the way we define our world. Even war has been redefined
from fighting “objects” and people to fighting concepts such as terrorism and
“human rights” and “literacy”. The corporate world has challenged the image of
the super manager to run organizations and now demands process leaders to
ensure corporate success. No single manager knows enough to run the corporation
by him or herself. CEOs today must rely on leaders to run the business of the
corporation.

The Next Generation CorporateLeaders face a different set of dynamics that their predecessors. In the past
there was relative stability in professions, markets and industry structures.
In the early part of last century it was possible to plan for 50 years of
production for a stable market based on a single invention such as the motor
car. Today strategic plans are outdated by a single innovation in a matter of
months – and there are hundreds of innovations every day. In the old days
markets were closed. Today anybody can do business anywhere. In the old days
careers were guaranteed by education, today if you do not go for training you
are outdated as soon as you graduate from college. Next generation corporate
leaders must handle dynamics, diversity and turn dreams into reality.

Dynamics is not the same as
change or change management. Corporations today house dynamic order. People
come and go, technology is adopted and revised, products and processes are in a
constant state of modification in a bid to keep up with external competition
and innovation against the erratic demand of customers. Gone are the days when
careers were permanent and pensionable and staff were reliable and guaranteed
to stay for 20 years. The nature of the corporate process is “here today gone
tomorrow”. The leader must be comfortable with these dynamics.

The very definition and
advantages of a stable corporate culture demand a significant degree of uniformity.
However, the new world does not guarantee uniformity. Globalization goes
against the very core of uniformity. Organizations struggle with generational
ethics where old and young work in the same environment. Analog and digital
exist side by side. Diversity is more than race or color. Diversity is about
integrated systems, accommodating religions beliefs, worldviews and educational
backgrounds. It is about mainstreaming gender issues, but also providing
opportunity for minorities to develop themselves. The demand is for corporate
leaders to understand how to interpret a single product effectively in four
different countries with multiple cultures and several different time zones.
The next generation leaders will not deal with consistency indeed they must
master inconsistency!

The only way that the next
generation can advance the cause of their organizations is if they have vision.
Vision is the capacity to not only see the future but bring it about today. In
the past it was enough to see the future, today leaders are expected to bring
the future to the people. Such is the challenge of NEXT GENERATION CORPORATELEADERS – Today!